Panama

Mr./Madam President, Excellencies Heads of State and Government, Honorable Heads of Delegation, Ladies and gentlemen,

A little over two months ago I assumed the presidency of the Republic of Panama. In the 5 years that my term will last, I will have to face, on behalf of all Panamanians, great challenges, several of which concern not only my country, but the hemisphere.

Our privileged geographic position made us the point of passage and meeting place of the Americas. We had the first railroad connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific on our continent, the first customs house on the continent, and the first Spanish city on the mainland. Our Canal and our airport HUB make us strategic partners for all the countries of the world.

Today our Canal serves a total of 180 maritime routes connecting 1,920 ports in 170 countries, constituting a great added value for products from all over the world.

Aware of our importance as a place of convergence, our doors have always been open to all nationalities that, fair and square, wish to take advantage of the competitive advantages of being, as our coat of arms says, "PRO MUNDI BENEFICIO."

But today Panama faces an immense problem as a result of its strategic location: illegal immigration through the Darién jungle, which has been used as a passageway for hundreds of thousands of migrants for some time now, fleeing serious economic, political, and social problems in search of the so-called American dream.

I know that territory very well, because a little over a decade ago, when I was Panama's Minister of Security, I led the forces that recovered the Darién from the narco-guerrilla.

Today, it causes immense pain to see the social drama that this improvised route represents, traveled by women, children, and elderly people who begin an inhumane journey through rivers, jungles, and inhospitable places at the mercy of any type of risk to their well-being.

This transit of people is led by criminal organizations, based in neighboring countries, that receive dirty money to profit from the need and hope of thousands of human beings.

I fully understand the difficult decision to migrate to escape the misery and oppression experienced in one's place of origin. The vast majority of people want to live, develop, and progress in the land where they were born.

I reiterate, the causes are known, but we cannot address them alone. There are already too many social and financial problems that we face as a nation. We do not have the resources or material possibilities to solve the migration crisis on our own.

Illegal immigration through Panama is part of an immense global problem and it must be here, at the United Nations, that it occupies a place of importance on the agenda.

We are proud to be a country connecting to world trade, but we will not allow ourselves to be used for the transit of illegal immigrants with the corresponding social, human, and environmental costs that this entails for our territory.

Panama today pays a high environmental cost as a result of this illegal flow of people, causing severe damage to our biodiversity.

I want to tell you that there is an immense difference between analyzing this problem from venues like this one, in the heart of Manhattan, and being a firsthand witness to the drama as I have been. Seeing children who have been orphaned by the harshness of the journey through the jungle would touch the soul of the coldest analyst who studies these issues from the comfort of an office.

These are not isolated problems in the Darién or, to give another example, in the Mediterranean. It is a complex system of organized crime that profits from human misfortune.

Through the Darién border, in 2023, more than half a million illegal immigrants entered. This corresponds to 12% of Panama's total population. If the same thing happened in the United States, it would mean the entry of 40 million illegal immigrants in one year, that is, a number 20 times greater than what it receives today.

Another example: in Italy, which also has a serious migration problem, close to 150 thousand people entered illegally last year. If it were in the same proportion as Panama, it would mean the entry of about 7 million illegal immigrants into that European country.

Ladies and gentlemen, I ask you to consider the magnitude of what is happening, because we feel that we do not have all the international support that corresponds to us to face a situation so distressing from a humanitarian point of view, so costly financially, so risky for our security, and so alarming due to the environmental devastation it leaves us.

And it is precisely about the environmental damage that I want to speak to you now. The Darién is one of the largest neotropical jungles in the world. When half a million people pass through and leave tons of waste over the years, some of it highly polluting such as batteries and plastics, it generates serious ecological consequences.

Also, and it is painful to say, decomposing bodies remain along the path or in the rivers. Not everyone survives this terrible 20-day odyssey through the jungle. Panama has to deal with a problem that is not ours, but we do so, as far as possible, with the resources we have.

No one imagines, much less would accept, 500 thousand people leaving trash without any kind of planning or treatment in the Bavarian Forest in Germany, or in Yellowstone National Park here in the United States. Half a million souls in an irregular situation passing through without documents and without control.

Perhaps the reason for the lack of global outrage over the devastation of our province of Darién, the great green lung of the region, is because it is located in an inhospitable place on the border between Panama and Colombia.

I understand that part of the responsibility for this lies with officials from previous administrations in our country, who did not have the resolve and the strength to put this issue on the world agenda. But that has changed. This President will indeed denounce it and will use every international forum to demand a shared effort to stop the flow of illegal migration.

Mr. President: in Panama today lies the new frontier of the United States, because through the Darién pass those who seek, here in this country, a better life.

Panama, which has always stood on the side of peace and the progress of nations, today needs help and support from those countries that it has historically helped in this and other venues. Concrete cooperation and direct work to prevent our territory from being used as the beginning of a dream that, most of the time, is generated by criminal organizations linked to drug trafficking and human trafficking.

Political instability is one of the causes generating mass migration. When there are serious cases of institutional crisis over time, they have as an immediate consequence the desertion of their citizens. Venezuela is a concrete example.

That is why I want to speak to you about our regional political situation, which, coincidentally, is the great common thread of the migration crisis we are experiencing.

The growing degradation of its institutional system has caused the exodus of nearly 8 million Venezuelans, according to data from the United Nations Refugee Agency. This figure represents a true migratory tragedy to which international bodies have not given a forceful and credible response over the years.

Recent events in Venezuela have further undermined the tarnished institutional framework of the country. Let us be clear, claiming a victory without showing the vote tallies is like wanting to win a trial without presenting evidence; wanting to win without showing the tallies is the same as losing and not accepting the results. In fact, the current regime has lost the support of its most fervent defenders in the region, or, at best, has received the fragile support of silence.

It is more than evident that the current regime will not leave power nor acknowledge its defeat. That is why I call on the relevant organizations to act firmly against manifestly anti-democratic attitudes and behaviors.

I want to be emphatic that this is not an ideological issue or a matter of differing views; it is about strict obedience to the popular will, which is the mother of all wills. Panama is open to dialogue with the rest of the countries where the political and representative system emanating from the National Constitution of each territory is respected.

I bring up the issue of Venezuela because it is very difficult for me to speak of health and the environment when 8 million of our neighbors were forced to leave their territory, fleeing the misery experienced in a country that should be an economic power.

What regional sustainable development can we speak of in the face of this endless political crisis affecting the entire continent? I do not intend to disguise my speech in green when there is blood shed by immigrants risking their lives in our jungle in search of a dream of freedom. When, along their way, they contaminate the Darién, leaving a trail of destruction and desolation that Panamanians must clean up, repair, and pay for.

If there is really a concern for sustainable development, I ask the member states to make a firm stand and establish precise mechanisms to reverse the damage done in the Darién. I am referring not only to the environmental damage, but to the causes that give rise to it, such as the self-proclaimed victory of the current regime in Venezuela.

As a third point, I want to move forward in my address by referring to the unjust discriminatory lists in which our country has been included. Lists that put us alongside tyrannies that have committed the worst atrocities. With countries that do not open their doors to the world, do not respect democracy, or that foster terrorism.

We do not accept being part of these lists drawn up out of the particular interests of nations that fail to be competitive or attractive to their own citizens. Panama cannot and must not allow this affront, especially after all the efforts made.

We have implemented significant reforms in our financial and legal system over recent years to comply with international standards of transparency and prevention of money laundering and other organized crime offenses. But that has not been enough.

Our nation has shown willingness to collaborate with international organizations and we have signed tax information exchange treaties with several countries. That has not been enough either.

As a consequence, the prescriptions imposed under the false promise of being removed from these lists have been catastrophic for our economy, and even so we have not managed to free ourselves from these reckless accusations.

Panama is not a tax haven, nor anything of the sort, unlike other jurisdictions aligned with many of the countries promoting these lists, which are analyzed and measured with a different standard than my country.

It is paradoxical, but the nations that approve of including Panama on these lists use our canal, participate in public tenders, profit from paid consultancies, and lobby on behalf of their companies to secure contracts in our country.

This President has made the firm decision not to allow companies from the countries that endorse and support these lists to participate in international tenders. They will also not have our vote in international organizations.

While they point their finger at us, they have enjoyed many facilities and no restrictive measures whatsoever. Their biased view seeks to maintain an infamous stigma on Panama, which is a responsible country in terms of financial compliance.

I want the best for my beloved Panama. I did not come to the presidency to ingratiate myself with other countries, but to address the demands of my homeland.

Speaking of lists, I want to tell you that Panama is one of very few carbon-negative countries in the world. That is, we remove more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than we emit. But having this remarkable environmental standing has brought us no benefit whatsoever.

Having a large part of our territory protected implies greater challenges in achieving genuine development. Today, countries that destroyed their biodiversity in order to develop impose on other developing countries the environmental care that they themselves never had.

This entails an asymmetry in terms of opportunities for progress. On one hand, we must keep our jungles in a pristine state, and on the other, we are placed on lists that complicate the arrival of investment and hinder the development of a globally competitive financial system. Panama does not accept these rules of the game.

I want to reiterate in this venue the message I gave to the Panamanian nation when I assumed the office of President: "Panama is a country that is a friend of good causes, and we will not allow any more unjust accusations that harm our economic capacity, our prestige, and undermine our country's image."

In closing, I want to express our pride as Panamanians, since in January of next year, we will become a non-permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations Organization for the sixth time in history.

This is the fruit of sustained work over time. It is because of our country's conduct in the fight against terrorism, against human trafficking, and against drug trafficking. Panama contributes to peace and harmony among all peoples.

All of this is contradictory to the aforementioned lists. Forgive my insistence, but it is unacceptable that a country with integrity and consistent conduct in favor of freedom, peace, and international security be associated with those who did everything to the contrary, placing us on arbitrary lists that do not correspond to reality. Truly unacceptable.

We will continue to fight, peacefully and steadily, to put an end to this unnecessary and, above all, discriminatory harassment at the hands of countries that would never apply to their own territories the conditions they demand of us.

To conclude, I want to state that we will continue building a country in service to humanity. Protecting our biodiversity, despite the adversities; defending democracy, despite the concrete threats that exist today in our region.

Panama will continue connecting world trade, fighting for freedom, integrating into the world, and demanding the respect that we give and that we deserve, as a nation of integrity, with a noble, hardworking people who strive every day to make this world a better place to live.

Distinguished members of this Organization, on behalf of Panama and all the Panamanian people, thank you very much for this opportunity.